Is it just me, or do these seem cheap (cost wise) for what you are getting ??
I mean you can buy on of these for $600.00 + shipping
Are they junk ??
I gotta know

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Not at all. I am very impressed with this head, and I consider it to be a killer all-tube head for the money. It is not as full sounding as some, but it is very articulate, and you can dial in a good range of nice growl and overdrive. Quite honestly, I think it is a smoking head for the price.

Not at all. I am very impressed with this head, and I consider it to be a killer all-tube head for the money. It is not as full sounding as some, but it is very articulate, and you can dial in a good range of nice growl and overdrive. Quite honestly, I think it is a smoking head for the price.

Not at all. I am very impressed with this head, and I consider it to be a killer all-tube head for the money. It is not as full sounding as some, but it is very articulate, and you can dial in a good range of nice growl and overdrive. Quite honestly, I think it is a smoking head for the price.

Definitely! My comments above are based upon trying it through the NV215, NV610 and Sadowsky 4x10. Again, I am very impressed. The Sovteks in mine seemed to sound pretty good in this unit. What tubes are y'all throwing in these amps?

Definitely! My comments above are based upon trying it through the NV215, NV610 and Sadowsky 4x10. Again, I am very impressed. The Sovteks in mine seemed to sound pretty good in this unit. What tubes are y'all throwing in these amps?

Tom.

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Thanks a lot Tom! This head sounds like an amazing deal. I may have to check one out.

How would you compare it to the Sadowsky 200 tube head Tombowlus? I know the Sadowsky's better.

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Well, sure, the SA200 blows it away, but it should. BUT, the little Traynor made its case for being a great bang for the buck while being directly compared to the SA200. In fact, when we first fired it up, everyone went 'whoa!' and was very impressed. It was only after switching to the SA200 that we started saying how it is not as full (or as smooth) sounding, but nevertheless, even after the direct A/B comparison, we all felt that it was a killer amp, and that it must have been expertly retubed by Steve Azola (who I acquired the YBA200 from). It turns out that those were the stock tubes.

Blues Cat said:

Do you get the the same smooth over drive or do you find the YBA200 is either clean or abruptely dirty after clipping?

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The overdriven tones between the SA200 and YBA200 are extremely different. The Traynor is not really smooth, but it does offer a range of overdriven tones (you have a decent amount of the gain knob available for overdrive - it's not an abrupt on/off). The tone is more crisp and biting (for a tube head), but still pleasant, I thought. It's not a tone that's going to please everyone, and in fact, it's a bit unique, but I would still place it soundly in the 'good' category. It is a more dramatic overdrive/distortion than that from the Sadowsky, and again, the SA200 has much more heft, weight, warmth (but with great clarity), and overall just really pulls away, but given the $2,000+ difference in the MSRP, I find the Traynor very impressive.

I've played through this head a couple of times. More recently, a friend loaned me his head and I used it on a 4 hour gig with my Accugroove cabs. Since it was a moderately loud blues gig, I was able to run the head with a lot of gain and push it. It's a great head for the money. Ampeg buffs may not like this, but a good number of users call it the mini-SVT. The resonance control work just as advertised - adjusts the speaker damping. Overall, it's got nice warmth, drive, and growl.

Tombowlus - can you elaborate a little on when you say the overdrive of the YBA200 is a little more "crisp & biting"?

I'm wondering if my Ric and Jazz through this amp (and perhaps an NV610 ) will give a Geddy-esque overdrive.

Thanks!

-Mike

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From my experience with the head I would say yes. The main culprit to the "harshness" of the amp's sound are the Sovtek preamp tubes. Swap them out for some JJs and it becomes much smoother. The Power tubes in the YBA200 are pretty good and you really don not need to replace them, which will save about $200. Many have tried using lower gain pre amp tubes in the YBA200, including me, with 12at7s, 5751s and 12ay7s. I found it gets a little more of a vintage tone but I prefered the dynamics of the 12ax7.

Overall it is a great head especially for the money, but you do need the right cab so you have to experiment. My favorite cab with this head was the Ampeg 412.

There are a couple threads on here which deal specifically with the hows and whys of YBA200 tube swapping. IIRC the general consensus was that the stock tubes are ideal if you're looking for a scooped overdrive sound, but for anything else it's a great idea to do a preamp tube swap.

I'm personally really interested in the idea of running a tube preamp out to the power stage of this amp and bypassing the built in preamp entirely. Anyone tried it?

I love mine!! It's the first all tube amp I've had much experience with and I don't think I'll ever go back to SS. I really cranked it for the first time at a gig on Saturday night and it has just the growl I've always been looking for. I'd be interested in trying the pre-amp tube swap some time soon. I'll report back in one of the YBA200 threads when I do. Joe

Tombowlus - can you elaborate a little on when you say the overdrive of the YBA200 is a little more "crisp & biting"?

I'm wondering if my Ric and Jazz through this amp (and perhaps an NV610 ) will give a Geddy-esque overdrive.

Thanks!

-Mike

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I can't speak for the NV610, but since I have every other piece of gear you mentioned (Jazz/Ric/YBA200), I can unequivocally say that you can get your Geddy on with this amp. My Ric especially loves this head.

If anyone does a preamp tube shootout on these heads, post it prominently. I'm very interested to hear what people's results are.